The Denny Treasure Trail is one of 4 permanent public art commissions for Falkirk Council as part of a £7.6m regeneration programme in 2018 of Denny town centre. The history of Denny’s people, industry and natural environment is told through a series of small sculptures made in stainless steel, treated oak, cast iron and corten steel.

Chestnut seeds, foundries and mining, amongst other stories, are subtly blended to create a journey across the new town square and out beyond to the edges of the town.

The sculptures were made in Denny at Blueton Fabricators, with iron cast at Specialised Castings Foundry, Denny.

Individual works on the trail

Chestnut Seeds

The Chestnut Seeds at each end of town reference the 450-year-old Spanish Chestnut tree in Herbertshire Park, Dunipace, which adjoins Denny over the River Carron. Within each is an acrylic tablet with local children’s drawings depicting the life, history and natural environment of Denny and Dunipace. One is in stainless steel (Broad Street), and one in corten steel (Stirling Street).

Discovery Oak

Discovery Oak symbolises the oak stern post of Scott’s Antarctic ship Discovery. Cut from a tree in Herbertshire Park, the stainless steel sails are at once a frozen sea and an oak leaf. The ship is mounted on a horizontal treated oak block, symbolic of the stern post itself.

Brick and Broch

Brick and Broch are cast at the local foundry in iron and refer to the crucibles of the foundries: one is shaped like a brick kiln, a Denny industry of the past; and one like a Pictish Broch, referencing the nearby Tappoch Broch. In between, a stainless steel dice suggests they are also dice shakers, a reference to the board game printing at the paper mills. The names of old Denny companies can be seen on the dice.

Bridge

Bridge symbolises the two communities of Denny and Dunipace, divided only by the River Carron and united for centuries by Denny Bridge. Here the satin stainless steel Bridge is reflected below in mirrored stainless steel, symbolising both the River Carron and the bridge itself. As a whole it resembles a cleat, one of the more common products cast in Denny.

The Denny Battleship

The Denny Battleship is cast in iron at the local foundry; all that is left of a mighty industry in Denny. Here they cast ship engines, cleats and ploughs. Paper mills printed products including Monopoly boards - this playful work is also inspired by the ship counter from that game but it’s deck depicts the factories, which once lined the River Carron in Denny. It is mounted on a nautical bow-shaped oak base that points to Glasgow Road, where many of the ships' engines were cast at Cruikshanks Foundry.

Acorn Lamp

Acorn Lamp merges a stainless steel mining lamp with an acorn; a symbol of Denny’s mining past and growing future. Below, the oak base symbolises both the beams of the mine and, in its shape, the coal wagons themselves. The octagonal ends reference the distinctively-roofed modernist bank that stood on this site for many years until the regeneration.